Thumb twiddling is a relaxing pastime practiced by some people that involves interleaving the fingers of one hand with the fingers of the other hand such that the thumbs face one another and orbitally rotating the thumbs about an imaginary axis located between the thumbs. While thumb twiddling is often practiced without mechanical aids, some people prefer a mechanical aid, such as a small rubberband. If the number of twiddles is to be counted, the counting is usually done mentally.
One proposed thumb twiddling mechanical aid that includes a counting mechanism is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,342 entitled "Thumb Twiddling Toy." The toy described in this patent comprises a housing having a pair of closely spaced, parallel, tubular holes, each adapted to receive the first digit of a thumb. The walls of the holes are smooth and slippery, and have a diameter slightly greater than that of the inserted thumb. When the inserted thumbs are twiddled, the toy is rotated. The toy includes a counter that counts the number of times the toy is rotated, i.e., the number of twiddles.
Video games include controllers that produce (or modify) signals that control the position of objects on a video display screen. In competition games, each opponent uses a controller to control a game object. The most widely used controllers include a joystick that is movable in two orthogonal directions. Movement of the joystick controls movement, and thus, the position of the related object.
The present invention is directed to amusement devices, in particular, amusement devices that are operated by thumb twiddling. More specifically, the present invention is directed to thumb twiddling toys and controllers for controlling video game objects that are operated by thumb twiddling.